The subject matter herein relates generally to connector assemblies that include a plug connector and a receptacle assembly that receives and communicatively engages the plug connector.
Industry demands for optical and electrical connector assemblies may include, among other things, a greater density of signal pathways, higher data rates, smaller size, greater flexibility, and/or suitable electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding. In one type of an electrical connector assembly, a plug connector, which may also be referred to as a transceiver or interconnect, is inserted into a cavity of a receptacle assembly. The plug connector includes a leading end having a card edge with an array of contact pads. The card edge is received by an internal slot of the receptacle assembly that is disposed within the cavity. The slot includes opposing rows of resilient contacts that receive the card edge therebetween. Each row of resilient contacts engages a different side of the card edge.
The receptacle assembly described above may have different configurations. For example, one configuration may include only a single port for receiving a single plug connector, and another configuration may include multiple ports that are stacked relative to each other in which each port receives a separate plug connector. The multi-stacked configuration may have a single cage or housing that defines each of the ports in which adjacent ports are separated by a wall of the cage. Yet another configuration may include a single port that has multiple internal slots disposed therein that are stacked relative to each other.
However, connector assemblies that include such receptacle configurations typically lack flexibility. More specifically, different receptacle configurations may require unique plug connector designs that are not suitable for other receptacle configurations. For example, if a single port of a receptacle assembly has multiple internal slots, the corresponding plug connector has an equal number of card edges that are appropriately stacked relative to each other for engaging the slots. Different configurations of plug connectors, such as those having a single card edge, may be incapable of being inserted into and communicatively engaging only one of the slots of the multi-slot receptacle assembly. In addition, if a plug connector having a single card edge were inserted into a multi-slot receptacle assembly, only a portion of the port would be occupied while another portion remained unoccupied. EMI problems may arise under such circumstances.
The problems described above are not unique to electrical connector assemblies. For example, plug connectors of optical connector assemblies may have leading ends that are specifically configured to engage only a single slot or, in other configurations, multiple slots of a receptacle assembly.
Accordingly, there is a need for a connector assembly having a plug connector and a receptacle assembly in which the receptacle assembly is capable of receiving more than one plug connector through a single port.